David Hicks, the British Horseracing Authority judge involved in a photo-finish controversy at Newmarket, has assured punters that the process is trustworthy. Hicks, team principal for judges and clerks of scales, took nearly five minutes to call the winner of a £100,000 handicap live on ITV on July 4.
Mythical Bay and Magnetude crossed the line locked together, with many believing it could be a dead-heat. After wildly fluctuating betting, Hicks declared Mythical Bay the winner by a nose, or the width of a pixel on the image.
Trainer Satisfied After Viewing Image
James Owen, trainer of the runner-up Magnetude, considered lodging an appeal until a viewing of the judge's image convinced him the correct result had been reached. The BHA also quickly ruled out any unusual betting patterns in the photo-finish market.
New Camera Technology
Since March, new camera technology has enabled judges to determine the finishing order down to the finest margins. "Our previous cameras worked at a lower resolution but our process for assessing the evidence was essentially the same in that if we couldn't see a margin, we would declare a dead heat," Hicks told Mirror Racing. "Now we've got higher resolution images, better contrast, better colour definition so if the evidence is there we will split them, if not we won't."
The images are published on the BHA website with results, yet questions were raised on social media about the Newmarket race and another tight finish at Wolverhampton days later.
Display Challenges Addressed
Hicks explained: "The judge needs to be able to see the evidence and be able to show that evidence on the equipment we have. The newest technology has presented a slight challenge in that we are having to evolve the way we display those pictures." He added that images on the racecourse big screen are not as clear as the high-resolution image judges see, so zoomed-in images will be uploaded to show the gap.
"A lot of the inquiries we get are generally motivated by financial loss. I would be confident the decision-making process is robust and correct," Hicks concluded.
